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Witnesses:

D. N. HURLBUT.

RAIL JOINT ATTACHMENT.

(Application filed Feb. 15, 1898 Eiyl 1.

Patented Nov. l5, I898.

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UNITED STATES PATENT ()Fricn.

DANIEL N. HURLBUT,

OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

RAIL-JOINT ATTACHMENT.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 614,171, dated November15, 189g",

- Application filed February 15, 1898. Serial No. 670,438. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL N. HURLBUT, a citizen of the United States,residing at New York city,in the county of New York and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-JointAttachments; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

I have invented a simple improvement intended to be applied to thejoints of railwayrails, the purpose of the improvement being to providea smooth and continuous tread for the car-wheels at such joints bycombining with the rail ends an overlapping piece of steel whichreceives the wear at the point indicated and relieves the rail ends andtheir joints from the jar which now affects them when the trucks travelover them. To be more specific, I provide at the point where the railends come together slots or openings in the adjacent rail ends-whichslots or openings, cut in the side of the web of the rail, when the railends are placed together, are continuous. Then I set in, within thecontinuous slot thus formed, a piece of steelhaving straight sides forthe most part, but beveled off at the upper edges or corners. This pieceof steel is adapted to rest at its bottom upon the fish-plate and to beheld in place by riveting or swaging the rails along the slot firmlyagainst the beveled edges. The riveting is done when the rails are inposition, so as to insure perfect alinement of the adjoining rails andalso to make it certain that the upper surfaces of the rails and of thesteel piece which is set into the slot shall be flush with one another.By using the steel tongue in this manner the disturbing jar or vibrationcaused by the striking of the truckwheels upon the rail ends in'thetravel of the car is done away with by forming a rest for the wheelswhile they pass over the joints.

This last is the main object of my invention.

In the drawings which illustrate my invention, Figure 1 is an end viewof one rail with a transverse section of the fish-plates and a sectionalso of the steel tongue in position, and Fig. 2 is a top view of arail-joint.

Wheel at the joints.

In the drawings, 1 1 are fish-plates. 2 is a rail on either side of thejoint, and 3 is the piece of steel uniting them and at the same timefurnishing a tread or rest for the car It will be seen that the steelpiece 3 is beveled off ate 4: and that the rail on either side isriveted along the bevels, thus making a firm and rigid connection andholding said steel piece in place.

This invention is designed not as a rail= joint'pure and simple-=that isto say, the

function of securing the rail ends together is accomplished mainly bythe fish-plates, while I have in mind chiefly the smoothness of traveland the saving of the rails and the rolling-stock which will result frominserting my piece of steel in the manner described.

I have shown the upper surface of the tongue 3 as flush with the uppersurface of the rails throughout its entire length. I may, however, rivetor swage the rails at the ends of the key in the same manner as at thesides, if it is found desirable. In the same way, if thought best, I maylower the ends of the tongue Very slightly in order that there may i beno possibility of jarring or striking when the wheels first come uponthe tongue. This amounts to saying that I may have the tongue a littlehigher in the middle than at the ends, with a gradual. slope or inclinefrom the middle to the ends. Such incline should be infinitesimal inamount; but it would serve to relieve the jar or stroke at the ends ofthe adj oining rails and would so fulfil the purposes of this invention.This tongue can be adapted to T-rails by cutting a slot on each side ofthe web of the rail, so that the tongue will rest on the side plates(fish-plates) while binding the rails together.

I do not intend claiming a tongue or key for binding the rails together,as this is not new. My invention relates, rather, to a particularposition of the tongue, as resting on the fish-plates for its support,and the riveting in of the said tongue, instead of cutting out difficultand practically impossible portions of the rails, as disclosed in theart. My method insures a firmer hold than any other known method that ispracticable.

Having described my invention, I claim 1. A pair of railway-rails havingslotted Ice ends, the said rails being joined by suitable fish-plates,and a tongue in said slot overlapping both rails and resting on thefishplates. I 2. In a railway-joint, the combination of a girder-railhaving a groove out parallel with the web, with a tongue having sidesparallel throughout nearly their entire length, but tapering slightly atthe top, and adapted to

